2007-2008 ACC Team Preview #12

Duke Blue Devils

The Blue Devils return 4 starters from last year's squad, led by last year's leading scorer and 2nd leading rebounder DeMarcus Nelson. The team lost only perimeter wandering PF Josh McRoberts. The very strong recruiting class should more than make up for the loss of McRoberts. One of the biggest problems this year for Coach Mike Krzyzewski could be finding enough minutes to go around at the wing positions.

Key Losses: The only loss of note for the Blue Devils is McRoberts, who left early for the NBA. The loss of the 6'11" McRoberts will hurt, but more so because of the size he brought to the table than his scoring (18% of scoring, 20% of rebounding, 26% of assists).

New Additions: Duke adds 3 top 25 recruits and McDonald's All-Americans. The most highly touted is 6'8" Kyle Singler out of Oregon. The preseason ACC freshman of the year is expected to step in and fill the void left by McRoberts. If the exhibitions (23 pts & 27 pts) are any indication it would appear that he is more assertive offensively than McRoberts ever was. 6'2" guard Nolan Smith, the son of the late former Louisville star Derek Smith, should also make some noise. As should 6'6" sharp shooting wing Taylor King.

Projected Lineup:

• PG- Greg Paulus (6'1", Jr.)
  
• SG- Gerald Henderson (6'4", So.) or Jon Scheyer (6'5", So.)
  
• G- DeMarcus Nelson (6'4", Sr.)
  
• F- Kyle Singler (6'8", Fr.)
  
• F- Lance Thomas(6'8", So.)

Key Reserves:

• G- Nolan Smith (6'2", Fr.)
  
• SG/SF- Martynas Pocius (6'5", Jr.)
  
• SG/SF- Taylor King (6'6", Fr.)
  
• F- David McClure(6'6", Jr.)
  
• C- Brian Zoubek (7'1", So.)

Outlook: Last year broke a streak of 10 straight years that Duke won either the conference regular season or tournament title. This year's team should be better than last year's and should finish near the top of the conference. Just like every year, this Duke team has an abundance of talent (i.e. McDonald's All-Americans). This team is especially strong at the wing positions - many expect Henderson to have a break out year, Nelson was last year's leading scorer, Scheyer was the 3rd leading scorer, and Pocius, Smith, King, and even Singler add more depth. The question marks are in the middle and at the point. This team will not be very big, unless Zoubek can step up. Obviously, this could lead to trouble with teams with quality big men. In addition, Paulus needs to bring more consistency than he showed last year.

Duke goes to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational from November 19th-21st. They will play Princeton in the opening round then potentially Arizona State, Illinois, LSU, and Preseason #11/12 Marquette. Wisconsin comes to Durham on November 27 for an ACC/Big 10 Challenge match up. On December 1st, the Blue Devils will play a very good Davidson team in Charlotte. Michigan visits Durham on December 8th. Finally on December 20th, they will battle top 25 Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden in the Aeropostale Classic. Overall Duke plays a pretty strong out of conference schedule. However, they do not play 1 true road game against a quality opponent, which obviously bodes well for any team. The Blue Devils will finish with a better conference record than they did last year and garner a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Prediction: 11-5 Finish, T-2 in ACC; 24-6 Overall.

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